The fire had long died out, but its memory clung to the land.
Ash covered everything — the trees, the grass, the bones. What had once been a village full of life was now a graveyard of silence. The wind no longer carried laughter, only the crackle of charred wood and the rustle of scavengers circling overhead.
Lü Bu stood at the edge of what used to be his home.
He had returned.
He didn't know why. He had no one left. But something pulled him back — some need to see it again, to make it real. To burn the image into his heart so deeply that he could never forget.
The ground where his mother died was cold now. The spot where his sister had cried out was empty.
No bodies remained. Only blackened soil and collapsed walls.
He knelt and dug into the earth with his bare hands. He dug until his nails cracked and his fingers bled. He dug a grave where none remained.
And when he finished, he placed a broken piece of his home into the dirt — a scorched wooden doll that had belonged to his sister. The only thing left.
He bowed his head, not to mourn… but to make a promise.
"I will become strong."
"So strong that no one will ever take from me again."
"So strong… the heavens will remember my name."
The System pulsed again — a quiet thrum in his chest like a second heartbeat.
System Notification
— Trait [Indomitable Will] evolving…
— Hidden Quest Progress: 8%
— First Stage Reward Unlocked: Body Refinement (Stage 1)
Suddenly, Lü Bu staggered.
His limbs tensed. His muscles cramped, then stretched as if something unseen pulled at his very bones. He gritted his teeth and bit back a scream. This was no ordinary pain — this was transformation.
It lasted only seconds. But when it ended, he collapsed, breathing hard. Steam rose from his skin despite the cold.
He didn't understand what had happened.
But he felt it.
He was no longer the same boy.
That night, he slept beneath a tree with only the stars as his roof and the earth as his bed. But for the first time since the fire, he did not dream of death.
He dreamed of battle.
He dreamed of a world where men knelt before him, and banners bearing his name flew across the sky.
He awoke with a word on his lips.
"War."
And from that moment, he knew:
This world would not give him justice.
He would take it.